French school shooting: 4 shot, 10 hurt, student arrested

Fri, 17 Mar 2017 11:52:11 IST

A 16-year-old student who had troubled relations with his peers opened fire at a high school in southern France on Thursday, wounding three other students and the principal who tried to intervene, officials said.

Police moved into the Alexis de Tocqueville school in the town of Grasse the country's picturesque perfume capital and quickly arrested the still-armed suspect, identified by the Interior Ministry spokesman as Killian Barbey.

The government minister for victims' affairs, Juliette Meadel, told BFM television there were 4 people shot three students and the high school principal — and 10 other victims.

The Grasse prosecutor said some of the victims were suffering from "emotional shock.'' None of the injuries was considered life threatening.

Prosecutor Fabienne Atzori said the young man — armed with a rifle, several pistols and a small grenade entered a classroom then left, "not finding the person or people he was searching for."

"The motivation of the student appears linked to bad relations with other students in this high school in which it appears he had some difficulty integrating," Atzori said.

She said there was no reason to suspect the shootings were terrorism-related, "whatever the origin of the terrorist enterprise." A national police official said earlier there did not appear to be any other suspects.

Investigators were now trying to find out where did the suspect get the arms, she said.